Worcester education panel neutral on exam school

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 10:00 PMJan 31, 2013 at 10:29 PM

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A committee looking at the possibility of an exam school or International Baccalaureate program coming to Worcester public schools will recommend an IB program be considered but will not make a recommendation on whether it will have an exam school.

The ad hoc committee was asked to investigate the feasibility of establishing an exam school and make recommendations about a focus for the school and about its admission policies. The mayor did not charge the committee with recommending whether to establish such a school, according to Chairman Tracy O'Connell Novick, who is also a member of the Worcester School Committee.

The committee will recommend a classical liberal arts focus for the school and will most likely recommend multiple criteria for admissions, rather than relying solely on an entrance exam or other standardized test. Some members of the committee wanted to ensure that the test score alone could not make a student ineligible.

There has long been nostalgia in the city for the old Classical High School, which was not selective in its admissions when it closed.

The reason for the classical liberal arts interest this time, however, seems to be because there are already other selective science, technology, engineering and mathematics high school programs in the city, from the elite Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to the in-district and much less selective Worcester Technical High School.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty, who said in his inaugural address that he would investigate the possibility of an exam school, appointed a varied group of people to look into that and an IB school, and he will get a varied report. The committee could not agree to recommend an IB program be implemented, but voted 10-1 (with two people absent) to recommend the city's high schools consider doing so.

School Committee member Donna Colorio was the lone holdout. Her reservations included the fact that the IB organization is based outside the country and that the committee would not have control over the price of portions of the program, such as the exams themselves. Other members, however, pointed out that the district doesn't control Advanced Placement or textbook prices, either.

International Baccalaureate programs offer intensive, in-depth courses followed by standardized exams. There is already one in Worcester, at Abby Kelly Foster Charter Public School.

The committee is scheduled to give its report to the mayor by the end of February. At its meeting tonight, members did not vote on whether to have an exam school, but many said they opposed one. The report's recommendations on the details of such a school will be couched in a phrase similar to “were the city to start an exam school.”

Looming behind all the discussions were the sheer cost of starting either new program.

Brian E. Allen, the school district's chief financial and operations officer, said an IB program for 250 11th- and 12th-grade students would cost $417,277 in its fourth year. That assumes that it uses existing teachers and facilities.

An exam school for 500 students in Grades 9-12 would cost almost $5.3 million in its fourth year, which includes the addition of new teachers but not facilities, furnishings and equipment.

“If we can find money for one of these, perhaps that money should go into the existing programs,” said ad hoc committee member John Emilio. The committee had planned to discuss its draft in executive session last night but voted 7-4 to stay in open session after a reporter objected.